At Rochester's inaugural food truck fest ... they ate it up!

Foodies congregate at the Lilac Mall on Sunday to enjoy the city's inaugural Food Truck Festival. (Rochester Voice photos)

ROCHESTER - Chris Kozlowski, the owner of Crescent City Bistro who organized Sunday's Food Truck Festival, looked out at a line that stretched half a football field out into a Lilac Mall parking lot around 1 p.m.

"We didn't expect this," he said, half to himself, half to his truck crew.

For its inaugural event, long lines aside, this was no less than an unparalleled success with thousands of foodies and food truck lovers descending on the sun-drenched parking lot next to Great Bay College to enjoy some live music, the scrumptious vittles food truck style and a sense of community on one of summer's last weekend.

Tom Corriveau of Milton, left, enjoys his 'Carnivore' plate from Smoke-n-Grille, while his son, Jesse, waits fork in hand and Martha Corriveau looks on, fish taco in hand.

Tom, Jesse and Martha Corriveau of Milton got there just as the dinner bell rang around noon and "the lines were big when we got here," Martha Corriveau said.

It was worth it, said Tom Corriveau, who got something called "The Carnivore" at Smoke-n-Grille. Standing in the middle of a shadeless parking lot on a sort of "gastronomic island" he enjoyed his plate of brisket, Vietnamese sausage, pulled pork, smoked mac-n-cheese and coleslaw, all piled high on a sturdy fortified corrugated paper plate. For $14, he was pretty satisfied.

At his side, Martha enjoyed a blackened fish taco from Crescent City, which she said was equally delicious.

Only eight or so food trucks showed up, leading to some long lines, which snaked about and often intersected on parking lot pavement.

Chris and Euna Turner of Rochester, with their dogs, pug Sampson and Abby, who were both smelling the place out.

With little shaded seating, scores of folks set up lawn chairs under the portico of the former state liquor store and Great Bay College's ATAC center, where college officials took advantage of the event with some storefront outreach for their upcoming fall semester.

Standing nearby, Gary and Tina Nelson of Franklin said they were more than happy to wait in line an hour or so for some crab cakes one of the trucks was selling.

Meanwhile, Euna and Chris Turner of Rochester, who were there with their two dogs, Abby and Sampson, said they didn't know if they wanted to wait in line even though the two pooches seemed excited over the sights and sounds ... and smells of Rochester's First Annual Food Truck Festival.

Late Sunday night on the event's Facebook page Kozlowski apologized that three of the trucks hadn't showed, but is already promising next year's festival will be bigger and better.